The preprint is a complete scientific manuscript that the authors place in a public server. Preprints contain complete data and methodologies. They are published on the web within one day approximately, without peer review, and can be viewed for free by anyone in the world, on platforms currently developed for this purpose, allowing scientists to directly control the promotion of their work for the scientific community around the world. In most cases, the same work published as preprint is also submitted for peer review in a journal. Therefore, preprints (not validated by peer review) and the publication of journals (validated by peer review) work in parallel as a communication system for scientific research.

Submitting a manuscript to a preprint platform is not considered double publishing. Submitted articles cannot have been previously published elsewhere, either in whole or in part, in the form of either book chapters or journal papers. Neither can they be simultaneously submitted to other journals. Manuscripts previously published in scientific conference proceedings, preprint platforms, as preliminary versions or working papers, are considered unpublished for these purposes.

Authors of manuscripts previously published on preprint servers must inform their online location (link, DOI etc.). They will be submitted to a blind review, in which reviewers are informed of authors’ identities. Manuscripts not previously published on preprint servers, on the other hand, go through a double-blind review, in which neither reviewers nor authors know each other’s identities. Comments received by manuscripts in preprints can be considered by editors during the peer review.

If the author of a manuscript that is in peer review at ABC HF wants to deposit it on a preprint server, he/she must request the journal’s authorization through an e-mail: abcheartfailure@cardiol.br.

The journal recommends the SciELO preprint server for submission: https://preprints.scielo.org, with other servers also being accepted.

Accepted manuscripts previously published in preprint platforms must include a link to the version published in ABC HF.

The journal ABC HF seeks to keep its platform and rules constantly updated, in keeping with the practices of modern scientific publication. Today, we accept preprints and open science platforms to encourage communication among authors.

ABC HF uses a double-blind peer-review system, meaning that the reviewers of the paper will be blind to the identity of the author(s), and the author(s) will be blind to the identity of the reviewer. At initial submission, a manuscript is reviewed by editorial staff for compliance with journal style and to make sure the submission is clear and legible for reviewers and editors. Once the editorial staff have checked in the paper, it is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief, who will assign it to an Associate Editor. The Associate Editor then determines if it should be sent for peer review or if it is not of sufficient priority for ABC HF. All reviewers and editors are asked to report any potential conflicts of interest, and when those exist the manuscript is reassigned to a different editor or reviewer. The manuscripts are submitted to statistical review, whenever necessary. Once at least to 2 reviews have been completed, the submission is reviewed by the associate editors and Editor-in-chief, who come to one of the six decisions below. Reviewers have 30 days to review the manuscript.

• Accept: The manuscript is acceptable for publication in its current form. However, minor edits may be made by the medical editors, illustrators, or the editorial staff, and authors will need to work with the appropriate contacts to ensure these changes are incorporated post-acceptance.
• Minor Revision: It is important to note that this decision does not guarantee acceptance. However, less significant edits are required than a Revision Required decision. Authors have 30 days to make the changes requested.
• Major Revision: In this case, more significant edits are required. Authors have 40 days to make the changes requested. It is important to note that this decision does not guarantee acceptance.
• Reject & Resubmit: The manuscript is unacceptable for publication in its current form. However, the editors are willing to reconsider a thoroughly revised manuscript. The authors must respond to all reviewer and editor comments and the submission will be re-reviewed and treated as a new submission.
• Reject: The manuscript is unacceptable for publication and/or is not an appropriate fit for ABC HF.

The responsibility for the content of the journals and articles lies with the authors and editors, in accordance with agreements established between the parties.

The final version of the article, as published in the journal, includes the name of the editor responsible for the peer review process.

ABC HF encourages authors to make all content (data, program codes, and other materials) underlying the manuscript text available either prior to or at the time of publication. Exceptions are permitted in cases involving legal and ethical issues. The aim is to facilitate manuscript evaluation and, if approved, contribute to the preservation, reuse of content, and research reproducibility.

The adoption of good practices in preparing data for deposit is critically important for accessing, sharing, and reusing research data, and it also helps make the data “as FAIR as possible.” To better understand the FAIR Principles and how to make your data as FAIR as possible, it is recommended to use the FAIR-Aware tool: https://fairaware.dans.knaw.nl/.
At the time of submission, the author must submit a completed Mandatory Publication Form, which declares how the content underlying the manuscript text is available. Types of declarations:

If the data is already available:
1) The content underlying the research text is contained within the manuscript.
2) The content is already available. Please provide titles and corresponding URLs, access numbers, or DOIs for files containing the content underlying the article’s text.

If the data is not available:
1) The data will be made available upon reviewers’ request.
2) After publication, the data will be available upon authors’ request – this condition must be justified in the manuscript.
3) The data cannot be made publicly available. The author must provide justification.

The journal recommends that data be deposited in trusted repositories such as Figshare and Zenodo.

The authors of ABC HF are exempt from any fees, including submission, translation, or publication fees.

The Ethics Policy outlines the duties of authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher. In cases of misconduct, the journal adheres to the SciELO Good Practices Guide to Strengthen Ethics in Scientific Publishing as well as the Guide for the Registration, Tagging, and Publication of Retractions and the Guide for the Registration, Tagging, and Publication of Errata.

Conflicts of interest may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial. These conflicts arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that could influence the development or evaluation of manuscripts. Authors are responsible for identifying and disclosing any financial or other conflicts that may have influenced their work. If any conflict exists, even potentially, he author(s) must disclose it using the Mandatory Publication Form.

Potential conflicts of interest include any relationship of an author, directly or indirectly, through the research’s sponsoring institution, with companies that might benefit from the study results.

For this reason, all authors must disclose any relationships with industry or other relevant entities — financial or otherwise — over the past two years that might represent a conflict of interest concerning the submitted article. All relevant industry relationships, academic affiliations, and funding sources for the work must be declared in the form, as well as all institutional affiliations of the authors (including corporate commitments). This includes, but is not limited to, consultancies, stock ownership or other equity holdings, or patent licensing agreements.

The following types of relationships are considered potentially conflicting and must be declared:

If, in the past two years, any author:

• Received consulting fees, lecture fees, writing fees, or any other type of compensation for services provided by the product manufacturer.
• Received support from the product manufacturer (research funding, equipment supply, drugs, labor) related to the project under review or another project involving the same product.
• Received support from the product manufacturer to attend conferences.
• Received support from the product manufacturer to attend conferences.
• Had the product manufacturer involved in data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing.

Was employed by a company that could directly or indirectly benefit from the study results.

ABC HF uses iThenticate software to verify the originality of submitted content. All manuscripts are checked before the final decision.

Plagiarism is not accepted in ABC HF. It compromises the true meaning of Science. Plagiarism is defined when an author attempts to use someone else work as his or her own. Another form of plagiarism is self-plagiarism, ou duplication: it occurs when an author reuses significant parts of his or her own published work without appropriate references. Plagiarism is a scientific misconduct and will be addressed as such. When plagiarism is detected at any time before publication, the editorial office will take appropriate action as directed by the standards set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For additional information, please visit http://www.publicationethics.org.

ABC HF uses the iThenticate software to verifiy the originality of content submitted before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of web content. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting http://www.ithenticate.com.

ABC HF editors will evaluate any case of plagiarism on its limits. If plagiarism is detected before publishing then we will inform the author(s) and will ask them to rewrite the content or use appropriate references from where the content has been taken. If more than 25% of the paper is plagiarized, then the article will be rejected and authors notified.

All the submitted manuscripts for publication are checked for plagiarism with online tools after submission and before starting review.

The manuscripts in which the plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of the plagiarism.

10-25% Plagiarism: The manuscript is sent back to the author for content revision without entering the review process.

> 25% Plagiarism: The manuscript will be rejected without the entering the review process. The authors are advised to revise the manuscript and resubmit the manuscript.

If a case of plagiarism is detected after ABC HF had published the article we will contact the author’s institute and funding agencies.

A determination of misconduct will lead the ABC HF to publish a statement, linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and to provide a reference to the plagiarised material. In severe cases (> 50% of plagiarism) the paper will be formally retracted

ABC HF recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) tools and AI-assisted technologies may support scientific writing, translation, language editing, data analysis, technical review, and editorial processes. Their use, however, must be transparent, ethical, responsible, and compatible with the principles of scientific integrity, patient privacy, confidentiality, responsible authorship, and editorial independence.

Authors must declare the use of generative AI at the time of article submission.

We recommend that authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and editorial staff read our Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and the Guide on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools and Resources in Research Communication on the SciELO Network.

The editorial board of ABC HF and the authors publishing in the journal are encouraged to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines. These guidelines recommend reporting sex and gender considerations in study design, data analysis, results, and interpretation. Additionally, ABC HF promotes gender equity within its editorial board.

ABC HF is ethically committed to promoting the adoption of DEIA principles throughout its editorial process, aiming to foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in scientific research and publishing, and to ensure the greatest possible plurality within the editorial board and peer review process.
To encourage diversity, authors are being prompted to self-declare their gender, race/color, and background when submitting articles, allowing for actions that support the inclusion of specific populations that may be underrepresented.
In terms of manuscript preparation, the journal recommends the application of SAGER guidelines to all research involving humans, animals, or any material derived from humans and animals.

General Principles

• Authors should use the terms sex and gender carefully to avoid confusion between them.
• When the research subjects include organisms capable of sex differentiation, the study should be designed and conducted in a way that reveals potential sex-related differences in outcomes, even if these differences were not initially anticipated.
• When subjects can also be differentiated by gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances), the research should similarly account for this additional level of distinction.

Section-Specific Recommendations for the Article

Title and Abstract

If only one sex is included in the study, or if the study results are applicable to only one sex or gender, the title and abstract should specify the sex of animals or any cells, tissues, and other derived materials, as well as the sex and gender of human participants.

Introduction

Authors should report, when relevant, if sex and/or gender differences may be anticipated.

Methods

Authors should report how sex and gender were considered in the study design, whether adequate representation of male and female individuals was ensured, and justify any exclusion of male or female individuals.

Results

Where appropriate, data should routinely be presented disaggregated by sex and gender. Sex and gender analyses should be reported separately from positive or negative outcomes. In clinical trials, data on dropouts and withdrawals should also be reported disaggregated by sex.

Discussion

The potential implications of sex and gender on the study results and analyses should be discussed. If a sex and gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be provided. Authors should also discuss the implications of not conducting such an analysis on the interpretation of the results.

Access the full document of the SAGER guidelines: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6.

The ABC HF website is designed to ensure accessibility for all users, regardless of abilities. Key accessibility features include:

• Screen Reader Compatibility: Fully accessible for visually impaired users.
• Adjustable Contrast and Colors: Options for users with low vision or color perception challenges.
• Text Enlargement: Users can adjust text size directly on the site.
• Keyboard Navigation: Full navigation capability using only a keyboard, benefiting users with reduced mobility.
• Simple Layout and Navigation: Designed for intuitive and logical browsing.

These features reflect the journal’s commitment to digital inclusion and accessibility

Research involving humans and animals must be approved by an appropriate ethics committee. For publication, the author must attach, whenever possible, the approval from the Research Ethics Committee. The institution, approval number, and date will be included at the end of the article.

The publication of Case Reports from studies conducted by Brazilian institutions strictly complies with the regulations of the National Health Council (CNS Resolution 466/2012 and Circular 166/2018). Prior approval by a Research Ethics Committee (REC) through Plataforma Brasil is mandatory, as well as obtaining the Informed Consent Form (ICF) when appropriate, or a waiver granted by the REC. Authors must mandatorily indicate the approval opinion number within the manuscript body, ensuring transparency and ethical traceability of the study.
For authors affiliated with foreign institutions, the report must comply with the ethical standards and specific regulations of the country of origin. Compliance with international research ethics standards, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, must be declared. If local legislation does not require formal approval by an ethics committee for this type of study, this condition must be explicitly stated in the report description. In all cases, preservation of patient anonymity remains mandatory.

Authors retain copyright of their articles, which are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – CC BY 4.0 license.

The copyright belongs exclusively to the authors, while the journal holds the right of first publication and the right to display, store, copy, and reuse the content.

All content of the journal and articles published in ABC HF are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – CC BY 4.0 license.

Authors of articles published in the journal retain copyright of their work, licensing it under the Creative Commons Attribution – CC BY 4.0 license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABC HF encourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts by sharing them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media platforms, as well as posting them on their personal social media accounts, provided the full citation to the journal’s website version is included.